Volume 1/Chapter 1/1

Chapter 1.1 - "Zenki's Awakening"
The chapter Zenki's Awakening is the first of fourty-seven subchapters of the Kishin Douji Zenki manga series.

It starts on page 5 and is the first of two subchapters of the first main chapter featured in Volume 1.

The original, Japanese title of this chapter is Zenki kakusei, which is featured via it's Kanji and Furigana writings, which are 前鬼覚醒 and ゼンキかくせい respectively.

Chapter Events
This Chapter introduces the following characters:

Zenki, Chiaki Enno, Ozunu Enno, Saki Enno, Nekomaru and Inumaru (aka Hyouijuu "Sairousaiko")

Note: Ozunu only appears in Saki's presentation and as a vision by Chiaki. He never appears in person, as 55th generations have passed since his days and humans simply don't live that long.

This Chapter introduces the following tools:

Gohou Ringu (aka Bracelet of Protection), Hyouinomi (aka Fruits of Possession)

This Chapter introduces the following locations:

Shikigami-chou, Enno Shrine

Note: In the English dubs and subs of the anime, Shikigami-chou is also known as "Guardian Village".

Introduction

Japanese base=

Once, there used to be Demon Gods in this world...

(cited from the English translation by Semerone, which used the Japanese manga as its base)


 * -|Original text=

かつてこの世に鬼神あり・・・ (Katsute konoyo ni Kishin ari...)

(cited from the original, Japanese version of the manga by Kikuhide Tani and Yoshihiro Kuroiwa)

Detailed Summary
This chapter starts with grandmother Saki showing Chiaki (as a little girl) her future. Saki presents Ozunu and introduces him as "Japan's greatest priest and how he could control demons". After that, she presents Zenki, who is introduced as the "Vermilion Demon". In Saki's presentation, Ozunu suddenly turns into Chiaki, which Saki sees as a sign from Ozunu himself.

Saki asks Chiaki if she followed her and little Chiaki gets very excited about the good "Vermilion Demon" who slays evil spirits. After that, Saki tells Chiaki that Zenki is sleeping inside a stone statue, but "perhaps someday in the future, he will awaken".

Saki gives Chiaki the Bracelet of Protection and tells her that if a "disaster strikes, and the bracelet shines", she should chant the secret spell to awake Zenki. Saki tells Chiaki that normally the Bracelet of Protection is enough, but if things get dire, she should chant the spell. After that, Saki shows Chiaki how to use the "Vajura on Ark"-spell.

16 years later, Nekomaru and Inumaru appear in Shikigami-chou. They are in search of Ozunu Enno's secret treasure.

The action cuts to Chiaki and some other girls walking through the streets. The girls are searching for a priest. Chiaki notices this and takes her chance to make some advertisement for the Enno Shrine. While Chiaki is talking to the other girls, Nekomaru and Inumaru pass by and take their chance to make a plan.

Chiaki and the girls arrive at the Enno Shrine. The girls aren't too impressed. Chiaki quickly leaves the group and dresses up in her traditional shrine maiden clothing.

The action cuts to Chiaki and the girls sitting in the main hall of the Enno Shrine. The girls tell Chiaki that one of their friends had many accidents lately. Chiaki exorcises the girl and now the other two girls want to be exorcised, too, so they can have more good luck.

After exorcising the other two girls, Chiaki is tired and a girl asks her about Zenki. Chiaki tells them that Zenki is her family's guardian deity and shows them a book with a picture of Zenki in it. She tells them that Zenki is a "good demon" and shows them the rock he's sealed in. The girls call it a bluff, which causes Chiaki to get mad at them. After that, they ask her about the seal on a box placed in front of Zenki's rock.

The action cuts to outside where the Nekomaru and Inumaru are hiding and spying on the girls. They get really excited, as they exclaim that Ozunu's treasure will be in their hands, soon.

The action cuts to Chiaki and the three other girls relaxing in a hot spring inside the Enno Shrine. Chiaki advertises the protective and beauty properties of the hot spring.

The action cuts to Nekomaru and Inumaru who have entered the (now darkened) main hall inside the Enno Shrine and find one of Ozunu's books on a small table. They see the image of an Hyouinomi and believe it to be the treasure they were searching for. As they see the sealed box, they think to find their treasure inside it and thus break the seal. An actual Hyouinomi was sealed inside the box and is taken out by one of the two men. They both exclaim that they will "start making big money" and when they can turn everything into gold, they will live happily for the rest of their lives.

The Hyouinomi starts talking to them. Nekomaru and Inumaru get scared and wonder who is talking to them. The Hyouinomi exclaims that it is weak, but "can give form to human desires". It promptly attacks the brothers who start screaming.

The action cuts to Chiaki and the girls who suddenly hear Nekomaru and Inumaru's screams. Chiaki rushes forth to the main hall. She checks the main hall using a flashlight, but finds out that the box's seals are gone and gets very scared. The other girls come along and turn on the light, but Chiaki tries to warn them. Too late...

Nekomaru and Inumaru have merged into a big man with two heads (with the Hyouinomi in between the necks). The big man grabs one of the girls and turns her into a golden statue. Now he gets even greedier and wants to "turn all kinds of things into gold". The big man now threatens the other two girls and they become gold statues as well.

Chiaki takes some spell tags to protect herself, but the big man just turns them into gold, too, telling her that these are useless. Then Chiaki tumbles down, because the big man touched her leg and turned it into gold, she starts to cry. But before the big man can get her, he transforms into the two headed Hyouijuu Sairousaiko.

Chiaki screams, but then the Bracelet of Protection starts glowing and Chiaki remembers what Saki told her when she was little. Chiaki gains some courage and casts the "Vajura on Ark" spell to awaken Zenki. At first nothing happens and Sairousaiko starts laughing at her. Before the monster can harm her, a fist punches it and Zenki's rock explodes.

In the next scene, Demon God Zenki is standing in the main hall and is happy, that after 1000 years he's finally free. When Chiaki starts cheering at him, Zenki glares at her, which scares her, but then she tells herself that Zenki will protect her, or so he should.

Zenki and Sairousaiko now start fighting each other. First they throw insults at each other, after that the monster swipes its claw at Zenki, but he easily blocks its attack. Or so he thought, because now the monster is laughing as Zenki's left arm has turned into gold.

Sairousaiko tries to swipe at him again, but Zenki jumps away and kicks it in the back. The monster crashes into a wall, almost hitting Chiaki who jumps out of the way and screams.

Chiaki is afraid that the main hall might be destroyed and the girls (who got turned into golden statues) might get hurt. Zenki openly tells her that he doesn't care about humans, he only kills monsters.

Sairousaiko gets up again and Zenki starts making fun of it, calling it a "third-rate useless monster". It now tries to grab Zenki with both of its hands, but Zenki punches it in the chest and finishes it off with a Diamond Horn thrust from his right elbow. Zenki uses Vajura, blasting Sairousaiko into tiny pieces and a large hole into a mountain.

Chiaki is very afraid of Zenki's power, but the petrified girls return to their regular selves and Zenki eats the Hyouinomi left behind by the defeated monster. After that he turns around and his attention goes straight towards Chiaki.

As Ozunu had sealed Zenki without telling him the reason, Zenki holds a deep grudge against the Ennos. For Zenki, Chiaki, being an Enno herself, acts as the closest substitute to Ozunu.

Burning for revenge, Zenki now exclaims that if he kills Chiaki, he won't be sealed anymore and can roam earth to fight monsters and eat the Hyouinomi.

Chiaki gets scared and Zenki attacks her, but the Bracelet of Protection protects her and turns Zenki into his Chibi form.

After that, Chibi Zenki wonders what happened and Ozunu (as a vision) speaks to Chiaki. Ozunu tells Chiaki that "the origin of the world's disasters has not been defeated" and the priests who control Zenki must "battle with evil, and triumph".

Chiaki lets his lines sink in while Chibi Zenki is mad at Ozunu and throws insults at him. Chiaki is very proud to have Ozunu speak to her, but Zenki kicks her and exclaims that he's "still the world's strongest" and how he "could be controlled by this little girl". He is them punched by Chiaki in return and crashes headfirst into a wall.

Chiaki makes fun of Zenki, but he feels much emasculated and doesn't want to protect her. Zenki exclaims that he will be on the look for a chance to regain his freedom. Chiaki ends the chapter by exclaiming that she will definitely control Zenki well.

This text was written by Semerone on 19:31 2016-06-09.

''The detailed summary will soon receive an overhaul, as the dialogues in it are still from an older translation. They will be replaced by Zenki's translations as he continues working on this chapter.''

Trivia
The introductory text, which is seen at page 6 at the very beginning of the chapter, has been reused in the second cutscene of the NEC PC-FX Zenki game Kishin Douji Zenki FX - Vajura Fight, albeit with a blue text color instead of a white one, which unfortunately makes the text especially hard to read due to its combination with the lower ingame resolution.

Credits
who used the Japanese version of Volume 1 as the base for his translations
 * The page layout and translations were provided by Zenki,
 * The detailed summary and images seen in the gallery were provided by Semerone
 * The original titles and the image shown on this page were made by Yoshihiro Kuroiwa and Kikuhide Tani